


Green Fire

by LadyCersei



Category: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Evil Aerith, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-28
Updated: 2016-08-28
Packaged: 2018-08-11 13:20:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,869
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7894186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyCersei/pseuds/LadyCersei
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tseng should have known she was nothing like the stories and fables they made her out to be. That years of resentment had been bubbling beneath the surface. And she would show all of them just how cruel she could be.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Green Fire

Aerith Gainsborough considered herself many things. Stupid was not one of them. Oh, she played the part. Acted like the naïve teenage girl wanting normalcy in her life. A boyfriend, career, to travel, settle down somewhere… She was not a fool. Acting like that was the perfect cover to throw her secret jailers off as she plotted for an escape. She always knew she was different just as she knew her past would catch up with her someday and Shin-Ra would come to reclaim what they had lost. And she could see her life ending in only two ways. Either her successfully escaping to live her life in the wilderness somewhere or her taking her own life to spare herself the torture and cruelty the Research Labs had in store for her. Zack had been a beacon of hope and he wasn’t too hard to charm. He was young like she was and to him, she was a blooming flower in the slums of decay. Beautiful, exotic and different. He had fallen for her hard and she had somewhat let herself become unguarded around him.

She had promised that when he returned from his mission to Nibelheim, she would tell him everything and hopefully convince him to defect and keep her safe. Shin-Ra had done half the work for her, sowing the seeds of discord by making him kill his mentor and being unable to hide their hideous experiments from his eyes. He never mentioned these things to her, but she knew anyway through her connection with the lifestream and the anguished memories of the dead, discarded by Shin-Ra after the scientists were through with them. Except her plans had gone down the drain with Zack having disappeared and Tseng pretending to her face that he was dead. She’d only looked at the Turk sullenly through heavy lidded eyes and continued to write her letters. Baffling the Turk, but throwing him off all the same. A subtle reminder of how important she was to Shin-Ra despite her act and that he should never forget it. She wasn’t oblivious to Tseng’s love either and knew she had to up her game. Tseng would be a hard man to convince. He was Shin-Ra through and through, but even for a Turk, he was still just a man. And as fallible and craven as all men. She had wanted him to fall and he was torn between loyalties, but her pretty words and sweet seductions were not enough. In his mind he thought he could convince her to spill her secrets while keeping her as his plaything on the side.

She’d already known what had happened to Veld, his former commander when such a man had fallen under such pathetic illusions. You could have ultimate power and importance or a simple life with a loving family. You could never have both. Those who tried ended up paying for their sins. Just like she was because her birth mother couldn’t keep her mouth shut about her heritage. And yet Aerith now found herself in a similar situation. Stupidity. How does a fool get out of their own idiotic game? She threw the pregnancy test in the bin and went back to her bedroom trying to figure how she could turn this to her advantage. It was all or nothing now. Shin-Ra was breathing down her neck and her time was limited. She needed him to save her and if this wasn’t enough she wasn’t sure what was. But if he failed her, he would pay. She would make sure his choices haunted him for the rest of his life. A week went by without her seeing him, but she knew his other Turks were watching. She was sitting by her flowers when he approached her. She’d dressed in jeans and a loose long sleeved shirt, paranoid he could see her condition before she could tell him even though her stomach was still flat.

“Time is running short,” he said from behind her. That she knew. He had said as much himself now that Shin-Ra was suspicious of them. Constantly testing their loyalty. He was hoping to use her to regain favour. She knew it and it hurt. Despite his feelings for her, she’d never come first. Maybe all that would change.

“I have to tell you something,” she said quietly. He didn’t say anything, but she continued.

“I’m pregnant.”

She heard a sharp in take of breath and several moments of silence. She eventually turned around to face him. His expression was…troubled.

Good.

“Are you sure?”

She looked at her feet. “Yes. Took a test. Haven’t bled for over two months now.”

He swallowed hard and came and sat with her. It seemed almost uncharacteristic of him.

“What do you want to do?”

She flexed her fingers. She needed to be careful with how she used this. “I want to keep it.”

Tseng was quiet for several moments more before he spoke. “You need to consider that I can’t keep this secret. I’ll take care of you no matter what and so will Shin-Ra, but soon we will want to see you cooperative to our goals and if you are not all three of our lives will be forfeit.”

Aerith licked her lips. “You would let that happen?” Tseng grabbed her wrist harshly and yanked her closer. “Look at me.”

She didn’t disobey. His face was cold. “I would never want to let it happen. But I am one man and if the order came in, my subordinates would do it. They’d kill me, our child would be taken away from you, probably experimented on and you would face worse tortures until you spilled out everything Shin-Ra needed to know.”

Aerith stared at him blankly, but she wanted to laugh. She wanted to fucking laugh. How one man could declare love and threats in simple sentences was ever an amazement. “Then run away with me,” she said. He stared at her, wide eyed a little. As if he never expected her to ask that of him. He let go of her arm and looked away. “No.” Aerith felt her mouth go dry. Put to the test and he had answered her with almost no hesitation. She couldn’t believe it. She knew he was loyal, but to possibly set her and his own child up for sacrifice? Could he really be that cruel? “Then I hope you enjoy your solitude.” She wondered if he heard the desperation in her voice. She’d hope her last words would give him time to consider his feelings and choose her over Shin-Ra, but a nagging feeling in the back of her head told her she wouldn’t be so lucky.

* * *

 

 

She spent the next week fretting. She hung around the shadows of the Sector Five slums, hypothetically asking a few whores she knew about how to rid herself of a baby. Even without her telling them, they gazed at her in pity and understanding. The things they suggested were dangerous and she couldn’t bring herself to ask Elmyra for the money, let alone Tseng.

And when she thought of it, he made her blood boil. Perhaps he was using the pregnancy against her. Using his own child as leverage in order to get her to cooperate. Maybe Turks were hardened and heartless after all. Weeks went by and he visited her as much as he could, imploring her to give in to Shin-Ra. Each time, she said no. “I can’t protect you anymore,” he whispered.

So sadly.

They came for her the next day. Soldier infantry and two Turks. Cissnei and a dark haired man with a scar running down his face. She came quietly, though Elmyra through tears and wails begged them to let her go.

The ride to Shin-Ra HQ was as quiet as can be. She was left in a cell to contemplate as they prepared for interrogation or to give her to the science labs. She had plenty of time to think. It was almost like going through an epiphany. She needed to abandon her naivety and philanthropist views of the world.

Such sentimental beliefs would not save her or her child. And she decided, despite the hatred she had for Tseng now, she loved her child more than Ifalna had loved her. She would not consign her child to the labs. And if she was to tread the path of revenge, she may as well enjoy all the fruits that came with it. She’d move up in the world even if it would cost her, her humanity and soul.

She told the guard that she wanted to speak to President Shin-Ra about the Promised Land and would put up no resistance, if she could speak to him without the presence of the Turks.

They wasted no time and she was escorted up to his office. He had soldiers as guards, but he dismissed them anyway and offered her a seat. “A cigar my dear?”

She gave him a weak smile. “I don’t smoke, but I’ll have some brandy.” It was bold and unsafe for her, but she was beyond caring. A little alcohol wouldn’t hurt.

“You look very much like your mother.”

Her reply to that made President Shin-Ra smirk.

“Yes, but I am very much not like her. My mother followed the old ways and did not believe in using Cetran power and knowledge to move forward. She wanted its secrets to die with her.”

President Shin-Ra appraised her silently, probably looking for hints of deceit. She had none to give. She was filled now only with poison and vengeance.

“And you don’t? What made you decide to come clean now? The threat of torture?”

Aerith took a large gulp of her brandy before answering. “No. I knew how important I was. I didn’t come clean to Shin-Ra as I was resentful that your soldiers killed my mother and your scientists experimented on her.”

The President scoffed.

“She could have been spared that if she had only shared her knowledge with us. I could have made her rich and powerful beyond her dreams. She chose to be stubborn about it. Resilient woman despite it all. However, what made you change your mind?”

Aerith didn’t break eye contact with him. She needed him to trust her if her plans were going to work. “I knew Shin-Ra would need me one day. And I am a firm believer in progress if you want to put it in those words. The Slums are a terrible place and I know the knowledge I possess can help everyone for the greater good. However, such knowledge comes at a price and I was waiting for the opportune moment to seek revenge. While I understand why your Company brought my mother in, I still want those responsible punished at my leisure. A small price to pay for a boon I can grant in return.”

The President was smiling at her now, intrigued by her proposition. Probably not expecting her to harbour such resentment and cunning beneath her gentle exterior.

“And who precisely do you want dead?”

She put down her brandy glass, crushing her soul at the same time.


End file.
